It’s Not Supposed To Do That with Matthew Brading

July 18, 2023

92. It’s Not Supposed to Do That
 
Every homebuyer needs a really good home inspector. In this week’s episode of the "Tell US How to Make it Better” podcast" host George Siegal interviews Matthew Brading, a home inspector from Houston, Texas. Matthew, known for his popular Instagram videos, brings a fresh perspective to the role of home inspectors and shares valuable insights on the importance of a thorough inspection before purchasing a house. They discuss the misconceptions surrounding inspectors, the need for transparency, and the impact of sloppy workmanship. Listen in as they highlight the significance of hiring a professional to uncover potential issues and ensure a safe and well-built home.  You’ll gain a deeper understanding of the value a thorough inspection brings to your home-buying process.

Here’s how you can follow Matthew:

Instagram: www.instagram.com/texas.edge.inspect

Facebook: www.facebook.com/txhminspect/

YouTube:  www.youtube.com/c/TexasEdgeHomeInspections

TitTok: www.tiktok.com/@texas.edge.inspect

Important information from Homeowners Be Aware:

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Website: https://homeownersbeaware.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/george-siegal/

If you'd like to reach me for any reason, here's the link to my contact form:

https://homeownersbeaware.com/contact

Here's the link to the trailer for the documentary film I'm making: Built to Last: Buyer Beware.

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Thanks for listening!

Transcript

00:00:00:06 - 00:00:25:11
George Siegal
Hi, everybody. Thank you so much for joining me on this week's Tell US How to Make it Better Podcast. If you've ever bought a home, you've probably had experience with a home inspector. It is a very important role that someone fills in your home-buying process. Well, my guest today is a home inspector from Houston, Texas. His name is Matthew Brading, and I found him on Instagram where he has over 130,000 followers that tune in all the time to see his videos.

00:00:25:11 - 00:00:47:21
George Siegal
His main expression that he uses in a lot of videos is it's not supposed to do that. So you need to listen to what Matthew has to say today before you buy that next house. I'm George Siegal. And this is the Tell US How to Make It Better podcast. Your home is probably your biggest investment, and every week we show you warning signs and solutions to help you protect it.

00:00:48:08 - 00:00:59:15
George Siegal
Tell us how to make it better. Is partnering with the Readiness Lab, the Home for podcasts, webinars, and training in the field of emergency and disaster services. Matt, thank you so much for joining me today.

00:01:00:06 - 00:01:01:13
Mathew Brading
Yeah, no problem. Thanks for having George.

00:01:02:01 - 00:01:20:00
George Siegal
Yeah, I found you on Instagram months ago. You're a very busy guy, man. You're tough to get a hold of. But I'm a big fan of your videos. And they really speak to what I'm trying to talk about on my podcast. So I appreciate your time. As far as I'm concerned, I am no huge fan of the construct in industry.

00:01:20:00 - 00:01:34:00
George Siegal
I've had a lot of bad luck when I've built houses and I've had a lot of frustrations. I see those with you on a daily basis. So first of all, what motivated you to become an inspector and then to go the next level and start making these videos?

00:01:35:04 - 00:02:01:04
Mathew Brading
Well, you know, to become an inspector, really, you know, I was in a completely unrelated field and I had been for many years and I was burnt out. I had hit the top of the pay scale and really kind of had the dream job that I always wanted with this company. And my sister-in-law suggested who she was in new home sales for many years and then became a realtor.

00:02:01:13 - 00:02:29:10
Mathew Brading
And when she was starting to become a realtor, or maybe it was when she became a realtor, I can't remember. She suggested to me, she said, Have you ever thought about becoming a home inspector? She dealt with home inspectors through all our new construction employment and of course, obviously as a realtor. But yeah, my sister-in-law, knowing me and kind of knowing my background and being like the guy that was always fixing stuff, the guy that always knew what was wrong, how to make repairs, you know, things of that nature.

00:02:29:10 - 00:03:04:22
Mathew Brading
Her knowing that about me led her to suggest, you know, becoming a home inspector and like, say, I'd never even thought about it once I looked into it and realized what was going on, I was like, Yeah, yeah, this is exactly what I would love to be doing. But yes, I that's what made me want to become a home inspector was really her suggestion and looking into it and saying, okay, this, this is that kind of potential to do something else to even at the time, like even if I'm working for this other company if I can do something else, be of service, push my potential and make extra money.

00:03:05:02 - 00:03:06:21
Mathew Brading
Like that was something I was interested in.

00:03:07:08 - 00:03:24:18
George Siegal
But when you and you obviously, I mean, you bring a lot of enthusiasm to your video. So where did you go from just being an inspector to saying, now I'm going to put this on video and you have over 132,000 followers on Instagram that watch these things on a regular basis. What made you decide to jump into that?

00:03:25:08 - 00:03:50:01
Mathew Brading
Well, a friend of mine, another inspector, Chris Murphy from Action Home Inspections, actually, he was somebody that I had seen. I ran into some of his videos online early on whenever I was studying to become a home inspector. And one day I was sitting in a continued education class and I sat down right next to him and just he just happened to be in the same class as me and we're in the same town, the same area of Texas.

00:03:50:08 - 00:04:08:07
Mathew Brading
And so he just started kind of divulging some information. You know, I would ask him questions and he would answer them. And I learned a lot from him. And we kind of, you know, became friends. And then, you know, after talking to him for a few months, he was like, you know, you really should. Because, like I say, I found him on social media, right, on YouTube or something.

00:04:09:00 - 00:04:28:20
Mathew Brading
And he said, you know, you really should start posting videos on social media. It's increased my business a lot. And I thought, yeah, okay. And I was kind of uncomfortable with that. I thought, okay, I mean, I guess I could give it a shot. I didn't have a whole lot of faith in it and has probably about 12, 17, 20, 18, really, really early on in my inspection career.

00:04:29:03 - 00:04:53:20
Mathew Brading
And I just started doing it and it is consistency, you know, doing it more and more and then I got a lot better at it and one day I started to increase my following a little bit and then and then it just kind of grew from there. But yeah, it was really yeah. Suggestions from other people that he was a successful home inspector and I thought, well, I should take his advice.

00:04:53:20 - 00:04:57:07
Mathew Brading
And so I did, and that was all started.

00:04:57:20 - 00:05:21:09
George Siegal
That's great. Now I think most people way undervalue the role of the inspector. I think when people are going through the home-buying process, they have to do that. Sometimes to get their mortgage. They have to do that to show that the house is okay. And I think most people approach it wrong. Some are even intimidated when a builder will say, I don't let that inspector on my property, or the realtor gives you a list of five or six inspectors that probably she knows or he knows will push it through.

00:05:21:18 - 00:05:29:02
George Siegal
That's your last chance to really find out what it is you're buying. And people really need to embrace that and understand that, don't they?

00:05:30:02 - 00:06:01:24
Mathew Brading
Absolutely. Yeah. I think that, you know, one thing that I've said about, you know, me and Chris Murphy, you guys talking about, I kind of thought as I started to see this change, I thought I wanted to in even my sister in law who suggested home inspection, there's this perception of inspectors kind of who they were, what they do, owns what they look like, you know, maybe an attitude, maybe not necessarily knowing what they're doing, not being able to put a chip on their shoulder.

00:06:01:24 - 00:06:33:11
Mathew Brading
I guess maybe there's a lot of people that don't like inspectors, like period, you know, not necessarily the home buyer, but people on the other end. And I kind of said, you know, I want to change that. And I remember talking to Chris Murphy about it, about wanting to change the look and the face of home inspection. I didn't even really know what it meant at the time, but what I think happened was, you know, the transparency of showing what the job actually is on social media has changed.

00:06:33:11 - 00:07:02:07
Mathew Brading
The idea and look, a little bit of home inspection on a lot of different levels . And the thing is, there's different types of inspectors and there's different types of people that hate different types of inspectors, you know, like people in the construction world, really dislike those inspectors that can shut down their job. And I get that right. Like I get them not liking the type of inspector that can walk in there and be like, hey, you know, this doesn't meet code.

00:07:02:07 - 00:07:26:11
Mathew Brading
You're not allowed to do this until you change this or move on from this. And I've heard stories about them doing that and like it was incorrect, you know, like they shut down a job for something that was not correct and it actually wasn't wrong. And so I can I can see that frustration or the people that that, you know, they get hung up on inspections when they're trying to do the right thing.

00:07:27:00 - 00:07:49:15
Mathew Brading
That can be very frustrated or frustrating for them. And then, I mean, you know, there's, you know, the other end, like the selling end where realtors are, where inspectors that do have that chip on their shoulder can come in there and make a really big deal out of something. That's probably not a really big deal. I mean, look, I try to report factual information, right?

00:07:50:02 - 00:08:09:12
Mathew Brading
But I don't have anything to prove like, I'm not trying to, like, justify my existence here. If I walk through there and all I've done on the house list and granted, it's never been the case, but we've all been around the house. Was there some missing caulk around some windows? That doesn't mean like I need to blow that out of proportion and make it seem like it's a big deal.

00:08:09:18 - 00:08:19:12
Mathew Brading
I mean, it's great. You know, houses in great shape, but really not much wrong with change your air filters and seal around windows, you know. But then again, that never really happens.

00:08:20:12 - 00:08:39:22
George Siegal
But anyway, it doesn't I mean, it rarely goes that way. And what I think too, though, is like I was watching a video of yours recently where you showed where they didn't do the flashing right on the roof and they didn't caulk it. They didn't do anything right in that one section. They didn't paint it for me. What that means is if they missed that, what else did they miss?

00:08:39:22 - 00:08:47:16
George Siegal
Because that was pretty obvious. They knew that the person buying the house probably wouldn't see it, but it still shows really sloppy work. And that frustrates the hell out of me.

00:08:48:04 - 00:09:08:20
Mathew Brading
Yeah, totally. Yeah. Yeah. I think there's always a like this, this thing about and to a certain degree, we kind of as buyers just kind of have to get over a little bit of that, right. I mean, I think hiring a professional is good here, right? Like a professional such as myself. Right. I'm not going to find everything.

00:09:08:20 - 00:09:32:23
Mathew Brading
And I think when I do find things, it does raise that suspicion of like, hey, what are we not seeing? And I get that. And there the thing is having somebody like myself that is very confident in their findings about find something that's a big deal. And but I don't fully know what's going on then you know, I will sometimes you have to make that big.

00:09:33:00 - 00:09:52:18
Mathew Brading
I don't have the authority to tell the builder, are you going to rip this wall open and find out what is causing said problem? But I mean, I will write it up as, you know, a problem and maybe some unknowns about it. And there are certain things that we have to kind of accept. Okay. I had a video recently where I found a this is a prime example.

00:09:53:01 - 00:10:02:03
Mathew Brading
I found a Styrofoam cup that had, I guess, been thrown in the work site when they were pouring slab foundation.

00:10:02:07 - 00:10:03:05
George Siegal
I saw that video.

00:10:03:05 - 00:10:25:20
Mathew Brading
Yeah, there is all the way over to the edge of the form. So when they pulled the forms off, they had the Styrofoam cup and you know, yeah, I took the hole the hole through it all the straw out. And it was really it's kind of funny. The thing is and the question that I raised in that video was, you know, okay, this one Styrofoam cup, you know, it's it's like this big, that void in the foundations hanging to make any failures arise.

00:10:25:20 - 00:10:54:09
Mathew Brading
Right. There's two, two things that I want to point out here. One, that does make you wonder how much garbage is in your foundation. You know, how much stuff besides concrete and you know, rebar and post tension cables is actually in my foundation because that's, you know, you never going to know, especially like that house was completed. Okay, if you're building a custom home and you had somebody for that, you found that before they moved on to anything else, you might say, hey, rip it up.

00:10:54:09 - 00:11:11:15
Mathew Brading
I didn't ask you to put garbage in the foundation Now, I don't know whether or not they would do it. You know, it depends. Or at least not for nothing. But either way, like when the house is completed, like that one, like they're not going to do anything about it. But it makes you wonder, you know, what's down there?

00:11:11:15 - 00:11:32:08
Mathew Brading
And there's a certain part of that we had to accept. We are just by the house and accept their warranty and guarantee that it's going to be fine or we don't buy a house. Right. I think those are the two options. But also like that was a blatant display of not even looking by the project manager, by the super.

00:11:32:16 - 00:11:54:12
Mathew Brading
Because honestly, like, like I said, they could have taken that perception that maybe my, my foundation was full of garbage and they could have made that completely not like irrelevant. It wouldn't have been there because if they would have walked the house and seen a Styrofoam cup inside today, that's got to come out and fill that hole with concrete so we don't get asked these questions.

00:11:54:24 - 00:12:14:08
George Siegal
Well, actually, I've seen far too many times where when there's been a disaster, there's been a flood, there's been some kind of fire, and then they open up the walls and you see food wrappers, you see beer cans, you see all kinds of garbage. And I think that just tells you who's building your house and who the supervisor was on the job that was not paying attention to his crew.

00:12:14:19 - 00:12:37:17
Mathew Brading
Totally. Yes. Yes. It 100% does that. And I tell people a lot because they ask me, like, you know, who are good builders, who are bad builders? I mean, number one, I don't trash talk specific builders or names or anything. I just refuse to do that. People ask me all the time to call out certain builders in my videos, let them know who they are, like, This is not going to change things.

00:12:37:17 - 00:12:59:04
Mathew Brading
This could cause me all kinds of trouble. The fact of the matter is, every one of these builders, they build decent homes and they have some bad homes. Do every one of them have a little bit? All that going on when people ask me, you know, what to look for in a builder or something like that, I tell them, if you're thinking about buying like a production, a production home, go to the neighborhoods where these builders are building.

00:12:59:04 - 00:13:17:09
Mathew Brading
Go to the neighborhood where you want to live, where you're thinking about buying, and try to find some houses that are under construction and see how clean they are, see how they keep their job site, if there's garbage sitting around and scrap and just, you know, it's just a complete mess that's going to tell you a little something about the person managing that build site.

00:13:17:13 - 00:13:33:00
Mathew Brading
If it's nice and clean and looks like they actually clean up at the end of the day, they've got tools and garbage and scrap sitting around. Then, you know, you might have a pretty good person in charge, which lends itself to usually a better built my opinion.

00:13:33:13 - 00:13:50:19
George Siegal
Absolutely. The frustrating thing is there aren't many jobs. If you look at jobs and you go, okay, if they screw up, what are the ramifications of it? Obviously, if you have a bad surgeon, you can die on the job. If I was making a video for somebody and I had 20 seconds of black with no frame, nothing, nothing showing, how could I pass that on somebody?

00:13:50:19 - 00:14:09:19
George Siegal
So I think builders really shoot themselves in the foot by not doing a good job of maintaining the job site and then making sure things are perfect. Because this is our biggest investment. There's nothing more important to most people who buy a house. Yet I get the feeling it's not the most important thing to them. They're more concerned about making money with their business.

00:14:09:19 - 00:14:16:20
George Siegal
I understand that. But it's a very personal business and there's something missing there that we're the ones that always get screwed.

00:14:18:06 - 00:14:45:15
Mathew Brading
Yeah, no, I mean, that's very true. That's very true. And I mean, like, it's funny because I've been fortunate to I, I don't know the other inspectors do this and what I'm about to tell you and the reason why is because I don't think they think about it or know about it or have the opportunity that I've been fortunate by to be kind of brought in to a group of people that are doing construction.

00:14:46:24 - 00:15:17:24
Mathew Brading
Okay. And you may know that I'm associated with a company called CO. They are a company that makes premium sealant, caulking and stuff out of Colorado. Anyway, they have brought me to a few events, including the International Builders Show in Vegas back in January. Now, I'm pretty sure out of the thousands of people that were there, I'm the only home inspector that was there is a construction conference, you know, and so here I am.

00:15:17:24 - 00:15:43:19
Mathew Brading
I'm home, Inspector. But they brought me in because, you know, I work with their company and what a blessing and how cool it was to be able to be. I mean, to see all of these products and how they're used and all these professionals and hear them speak about better building practices and things, and then to walk away from that with relationships with these people that I didn't even know existed before.

00:15:44:01 - 00:16:07:04
Mathew Brading
And now I can not only communicate with them, but I follow them on social media and can watch them work. And I can actually see that there are people out there that do care because and they're very transparent about it. Right. They put it out there, they show you what they're doing in different ways. Everyone's got their own little different way of doing it on social media.

00:16:07:04 - 00:16:15:21
Mathew Brading
But they show you what they're doing and how they do care. It's frustrating because and I don't know where you're at. What part of the country are you in?

00:16:16:05 - 00:16:17:10
George Siegal
I'm in Tampa, Florida.

00:16:17:21 - 00:16:42:15
Mathew Brading
Okay. That's right. You did tell me that. I you know, and I don't know what is going on out there, but like here in Texas, general contractors do not need to be licensed. Okay. A home inspector needs a state-issued license. And in order to get that, they have to have like 200-some-odd hours of training. We have to pass the National and state home inspectors exam, which the national test has like a 55% failure rate.

00:16:43:11 - 00:17:14:22
Mathew Brading
And we have to have a background check and order. And that's all just to apply to the state for licensing, which they can turn you down for whatever reason. You know, general contractors need nothing. They don't need a license. They don't need training, they don't need a background check, they don't need anything. And so anybody can be a general because you actually have to have your own moral compass, you know, like your own you set the bar here, you know, as far as being a general contractor.

00:17:14:22 - 00:17:33:02
George Siegal
So and you can't sue them because you can only go to arbitration. So if you yeah. If you have a problem with a builder, you can't get a jury and go into court and sue them. You have to go to arbitration, which is a roll of the dice, how that's going to go. So there's not a lot of protection.

00:17:33:02 - 00:17:47:24
George Siegal
So I always tell people to don't go by if the builder has four or five references, find the other people that aren't on his list that he's built houses for because those are the ones that you want to talk to. If they're having a party to showcase their homes and the people that like them show up, who cares?

00:17:47:24 - 00:17:56:08
George Siegal
That's like a comedian performing in front of his friends, get in front of a bunch of other people, and then you'll find out what people really think about the job that they did.

00:17:56:08 - 00:18:25:09
Mathew Brading
Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's definitely frustrating. And don't get me wrong and custom builds, I see a little bit better craftsmanship a lot of times. But it's funny because like in production, this is I tell people this a lot and production builds. They have a way of I guess vetting their trades. And so their trades are usually doing things up to current standards and current codes.

00:18:25:09 - 00:18:55:11
Mathew Brading
Now they're a lot of times they're doing them incorrectly and not very well. And they don't care about what they're doing, about what they're throwing, you know, how they're doing these houses together. But, but, you know, they meet code or whatever. But, but those tradesmen, you know, they even all the way down, it seems like, you know, I guess it's just a certain standard that most of these production builders have when they're hired or trades or like where you need to work to these codes.

00:18:55:11 - 00:19:14:16
Mathew Brading
The thing that you get with custom homes is you get a lot of people that really care a lot more, but you get a lot more tradesmen that seem to be more like craftsman. But the problem is you get the trades that have been doing it for 40 years and they still do it the way they did it 40 years ago.

00:19:14:16 - 00:19:32:18
Mathew Brading
And so, you know, you get things that aren't done up to current standards or current codes. And so, you know, I inspect all those different types of houses and so I inspect the ones that are under current code that are put together like garbage. And I inspect the ones that are, you know, custom ones and they are put together very well.

00:19:32:18 - 00:19:34:15
Mathew Brading
They don't meet current standards.

00:19:34:15 - 00:19:51:06
George Siegal
Well, I also think people should ask their builder, who are the subs that you're using for this project? Because I think a lot of builders will take the lowest bid on a project. I know they do that for driveways, they do that for landscaping, they do that for pools, all the things that are going to cause homeowners problems after three or four years.

00:19:51:15 - 00:20:05:18
George Siegal
And so it's I think it's a fair question to ask them who are the subs you're using? And then check them out. Because as I've had problems with houses that I've bought and then the repair people come out, they go, Oh, that's the worst electric company in the world. Oh, I would never use that poor builder. Oh, I would.

00:20:05:19 - 00:20:17:01
George Siegal
That guy that did your driveway is now in jail. I mean, you know, you just you have to ask these questions because if you don't, you're going to get screwed right now.

00:20:17:03 - 00:20:39:10
Mathew Brading
I think that that's a good idea. I first I was thinking to myself, what are they going to do with that information? But yeah, if they know who they're using, they can look them up and see how they feel about them. Yeah. I mean, that's definitely something that could happen. But you know, it's happening out here really more than anything is new construction like production building, I don't think are going to give me any answers.

00:20:39:10 - 00:21:04:11
Mathew Brading
Asking anybody that kind of question is the people selling the houses have no idea and they don't they don't like to put you in contact with anybody that's actually doing the construction or anything. There's a certain builder out here, massive builder. They don't even walk the houses with the client. When they're done, they hire out another company to do that, but they don't even have a representative from their company.

00:21:05:01 - 00:21:10:11
Mathew Brading
Walk the completed house with the buyer. They sub that out to another company.

00:21:10:23 - 00:21:28:09
George Siegal
What do you to stop rewarding companies like that to me that's just unbelievable if you won't stand behind it. I mean I can tell you with some of the houses I've lived in, I never met the person in charge. And I kick myself for that. And I think a lot of it is the real estate market is so competitive and we're all saying, if I don't take this house, somebody else is going to buy it.

00:21:28:09 - 00:21:34:01
George Siegal
So you're afraid to miss out? I think a lot of people would be better off missing out sometimes.

00:21:34:09 - 00:21:59:20
Mathew Brading
But see, this is and this is where I try to keep this in mind. The problem is that people already have an emotional investment in the home at that point. Once they're already there, there's an emotional investment and that is strong. Like that is something that's really hard to walk away from. The best thing I think people can do is it?

00:22:00:07 - 00:22:25:15
Mathew Brading
It's hard because you can this can be just as bad as inspector's representation a realtor is can be a really good tool, can also be a bad tool. So I mean just like home inspectors, right? And just like you talk about vetting people like you got to vet your inspectors, you need to vet your realtors. I really strongly believe there's people that just can't stand realtors.

00:22:25:15 - 00:22:51:00
Mathew Brading
And I'll say this because I have family that are realtors. I'm saying this because I strongly believe that true good representation can really make a big difference with your home purchase. Right. And I mean, you know, they can also help manage if they're if they're pretty good at their job, then then they know when that emotional investment is going to going to take place.

00:22:51:00 - 00:23:17:03
Mathew Brading
They know when that's going to win. That switch is going to get flipped. And they can manage that a little bit. Right, ask the right questions before that happens so that they can, you know, figure out all of the stuff that might change your mind before you get emotionally invested in this home. I mean, you just have to talk to realtors and hire somebody that that, you know, has the experience to be able to do that for you.

00:23:17:14 - 00:23:32:19
George Siegal
Yeah. Somebody that's going to be honest and tell you, I mean, we had our realtor took us to this one house and she said it was in a great area. And so some people were walking by as we were looking at it. And I asked the guy, what happens in this neighborhood when it rains because you do not want to buy that house.

00:23:32:19 - 00:23:51:03
George Siegal
The water comes up to the front door every time it rains. Now, the realtor didn't know that. She didn't tell us that. So I think, you know, I'm not blaming other people for my problems. I get mad at myself because I choose crummy builders. I choose realtors that don't give us enough information. And it's really we're the last line of defense.

00:23:51:03 - 00:24:13:23
George Siegal
If we don't do the work, you know, nobody is going to say, cry me a river, right? You know, it's just you live, you learn. And I think I've lived through a lot of things and learned a lot. So my goal is to help people avoid those problems. So with that in mind and looking at what you do, I love it in your video when you say it's not supposed to do that, but what are some of the most outrageous things you've seen?

00:24:15:09 - 00:24:47:15
Mathew Brading
Oh, okay. So really, I get asked this question every now and again. It's funny. I don't know why I have to think about it every time, but there is one, thing particular that I have seen unfortunately more than once that just really does blow my mind. And I have seen at least twice a functioning gas fireplace in a house or the chimney was capped off into in the attic, like well, one of them was capped off in the attic.

00:24:47:15 - 00:25:04:18
Mathew Brading
One of them went up and this was a custom home and it was like it went up and they, they, they realized that they didn't have clearance for everything. And so they put a metal cap on it in the chimney in the attic. And it's just like that does not exhaust to the outside anymore at all.

00:25:04:18 - 00:25:29:22
Mathew Brading
It just is literally capped off. Yet it was functioning like you could light it with gas. Also same similar situation. This is one of those heating later systems with like the glass enclosure and everything. Now these are vented a little bit differently, you know, so they can go up the sidewall. Sometimes they can go up. This one went up through a chimney.

00:25:30:14 - 00:25:49:21
Mathew Brading
It has stuck over there on the chimney and there was no hole in it. It was nothing. It was just sealed. I don't know what they were thinking. It was completely sealed off. I took all of these drone shots because I couldn't get on the roof in that one little area. And so I took all these drone shots above it, around under it, there was no ventilation whatsoever.

00:25:50:11 - 00:26:07:02
Mathew Brading
I told the realtor she didn't believe me, but it was just like, well, I mean, you know, this is what's going on. I mean, look at it. And that blew my mind. And then it's funny because it's a part of town where I kind of drive down it. It was across a lake and but it was like right on the edge of the main drag.

00:26:07:07 - 00:26:23:19
Mathew Brading
And so I drive by the house all the time and I guess the people bought the house. I don't know. But not too long after my inspection, a Silver Chimneys came out of the top of that stucco chimney stucco veneer and you really see them painted or anything. You can really see it from across the lake on the main drag.

00:26:23:19 - 00:26:39:00
Mathew Brading
And every time I drove by, I thought about that. That blows my mind. I mean, that's legitimately dangerous. Right. I've also seen some just nightmare electrical stuff, but I mean, I kind of go on and on. I've seen some pretty, pretty gnarly properties.

00:26:39:14 - 00:26:55:17
George Siegal
I got one for you. When we were moving into our house, we wanted to put a water filtration system under the kitchen sink. And normally from the kitchen sink, they run something to where the refrigerator is going to be. And I, I had somebody tell me why they forgot to do that. And I called the builder and he goes, Oh, we're really sorry we didn't do that.

00:26:56:00 - 00:27:11:09
George Siegal
So I had a water guy come out that was selling a filtration system and he tested all the lines and he found out that it was run, that there was a line there, and now we get filtered water in our refrigerator. But that's the thing a lot of people don't think about. It's like they get one shot to get that.

00:27:11:09 - 00:27:21:20
George Siegal
They're not going to tear the floor up, especially if it's a concrete foundation. When they screw that up, you really have to be on top of everything during the build process to catch things that they can't fix.

00:27:22:07 - 00:27:23:07
Mathew Brading
Where was the line?

00:27:24:02 - 00:27:33:01
George Siegal
The line was underneath the sink. There was a there was an extra line there, but the builder didn't even know about it. He thought they just messed up. And it wasn't there and it was, it was there.

00:27:33:08 - 00:27:53:11
Mathew Brading
So yeah. So this just reminds me, I mean, like, it's just the stuff like this isn't dangerous, but I'm doing this new construction house about a year ago now and gosh, this is really nice big house. And he's buying the same houses with the model houses. And I guess there's an upgrade where this part of your kitchen can have a coffee bar was what they call a coffee bar.

00:27:53:16 - 00:28:08:17
Mathew Brading
And what they did was they enclosed part of your what would be like the open part of your countertop and you had the bottom side of your cabinets that was like enclosed. Now you had these doors that would open up and slide in and you had your coffee maker and everything right there and you could kind of close it up.

00:28:08:17 - 00:28:26:09
Mathew Brading
Right. It seems like an upgrade that he paid for this coffee bar. And so he asked the manager, this is all going to seem unrelated, but he had some lighting right above his kitchen island. These are right across from one another. Kitchen island was straight. You know, they make some of them that are kind of curved and this one was straight.

00:28:26:16 - 00:28:43:17
Mathew Brading
Well, the lights were put at like round and they had three pendant lights and they were put like at a radius. They were installed at a radius. Yeah. He had a straight countertop and so it looked really odd and weird. You know, you would do that if you had a rounded face of the camera. I said to him, I said, Well, you know, what's up with this thing as yet?

00:28:44:00 - 00:28:59:16
Mathew Brading
They're supposed to fix that for me. But it's like they said, Well, we can fix it if you want to, you know? And it's like, what do you mean if I want to? Like, it's completely wrong. Like, you didn't do it, so they were going to fix it. But then he goes, Well, let me ask you something else, because I pay and I might not even started the inspection yet.

00:29:00:13 - 00:29:24:00
Mathew Brading
He goes, I paid for it. So I hadn't looked around, but he goes, I paid for this coffee bar over here and there's no outlet in it. And so I look and it's like, you open up the doors and there's just cabinetry. This cabinetry behind there are no outlet where you can plug in a coffee record. He goes, They're kind of giving me a little bit of pushback as to whether or not, you know, the outlet should be there.

00:29:24:00 - 00:29:39:17
Mathew Brading
And they're always like weighing, like whether or not they were going to either put an outlet in or fix these pendant lights that were hanging up here. And I'm like, What, man? They got to do both. Like, what are you talking about? And so after a couple of minutes, I was like, Wait a minute, this. And he had already talked to his builder about this, right?

00:29:39:17 - 00:30:00:08
Mathew Brading
And this guy, he's one confident with his answers. But I said, wait a minute, this is in your kitchen. Like you're supposed to have an outlet every two feet. Like I bet there's outlets back there, but they're just behind the cabinetry. I guarantee that there's no way you get the final build in a production build house and you don't have outlets on the part of your kitchen countertop.

00:30:00:08 - 00:30:18:09
Mathew Brading
Like that's not that doesn't meet code. There's no way. I bet it's back there and the guy doesn't know any better. So anyway, before I finished up the inspection, the builder called and he goes, Hey, man, I got good news. Know we're gonna fix your lights. But I talked to my boss and he says there actually are outlets back there, but they're just behind the cabinetry I think is yeah, actually that's what the inspector just told me.

00:30:18:15 - 00:30:34:13
Mathew Brading
But, but yeah, it's funny. Like, that guy didn't even know that. He doesn't know the code, he didn't know what is what he's putting together. He's just running his mouth and was bartering with the guy whether or not they were going to hang his pendant life correctly or install an outlet that was already actually there and they messed up.

00:30:34:20 - 00:30:36:20
Mathew Brading
They put in the cabinetry. That is ridiculous.

00:30:37:06 - 00:30:54:04
George Siegal
That's insane. I got another one that maybe it's happened to you where they if the house is pre-wired for speakers around the house and a surround system and all that stuff and they run the wires to a closet in our house. They ran it to the laundry room. But the area that they have it, you couldn't put any equipment in to actually run it.

00:30:54:04 - 00:31:10:06
George Siegal
You could maybe put in one little satellite box, but you couldn't put in all the other equipment that you needed to do. So we had to have somebody come in and knock out a whole section and make it much bigger because we assume that the builder thinks about that stuff. It's like while they're doing all this, where are they going to put that?

00:31:10:19 - 00:31:13:10
George Siegal
You can't assume anything when you're building a house, can you?

00:31:14:13 - 00:31:41:01
Mathew Brading
You can't. I actually I did a house very recently where it couldn't be any more clear when you go in the game room that they missed, placed some stuff in the attic and they were unable to put the attic access where it was supposed to go. So they had to move it and where they moved it to. This is a game room.

00:31:41:07 - 00:32:16:15
Mathew Brading
So like if you made a box, right? Like a square box. So is that a light right in the middle? A line box? Right in the middle where you can hang it, a pendant or a, you know, light fixture from which they had a light fixture there. And then between there and the wall is where the attic access was, and that's right above where the couch is, where you would typically put a cat like, I don't know how to explain it, but the, you know, it's a game room where like if you're going to put seating there, that's where the seating would go and it's the only place the seating would go is right there

00:32:16:15 - 00:32:41:12
Mathew Brading
because there's doors or a stairway or something everywhere else. And so now not only to pull down the attic, access the you have to like move a piece of furniture out of the way to be able to to get actually, you either have to move the couch or you only bring the attic access down partially and then get another ladder to kind of climb up it.

00:32:42:16 - 00:33:06:21
Mathew Brading
Furthermore, you don't have enough room for a ceiling fan, so the clients, the homeowners, they really wanted to see them. They actually paid the builder for a ceiling fan. They wanted a ceiling fan there. And I think they ended up having to take the one down because they had to get one. That's tiny.

00:33:07:00 - 00:33:34:17
Mathew Brading
all, all they asked the builder to do was to move the box where the ceiling fan was over because you couldn't get a fan with any blades and actually pull down the attic access. Forget the couch situation. You can't pull it down if you had a fan and they paid a fan and so they searched high and wide and they finally found a fan.

00:33:34:17 - 00:34:01:09
Mathew Brading
But it's a I'm not kidding. It's like one foot long. It's like this big. The blades on it are like six inches each. And it's in this pretty large room. And all they had to do was move this lightbox over. Now, granted, they didn't know this at the time, but it's like I started looking and I go, I bet you if you walk in any other one of these model homes, the same floor plan, you'll find that the attic access is in a different location.

00:34:01:09 - 00:34:24:08
Mathew Brading
They got actually we walked one more we're getting this one. We noticed it was in another area. I said that's because they messed up. They put the AC in an area where they ended up not being able to put the attic access where it's supposed to go. So they put it somewhere else. And then you paid for a ceiling fan and all you asked them to do to solve a situation was to move it over so you could have an actual ceiling fan in the room and they refused to do it.

00:34:24:12 - 00:34:38:18
Mathew Brading
I said, don't take no for an answer because, you know, moving that cost next to nothing and you paid for a ceiling fan, but you can't even actually have one. And there wasn't a step to begin with that like, you know, is completely ridiculous.

00:34:38:23 - 00:34:54:03
George Siegal
And you've got to catch that stuff before you closed because once they have your money, it's very hard to get them to do that kind of stuff. And another thing I tell people they need to do is walk around the house into rooms that are away from where the main air conditioning unit is and make sure they put enough return airs in.

00:34:54:03 - 00:35:05:16
George Siegal
Because a lot of times once you get there, you buy the house in the winter and now it's summer and you have a room that's four or five degrees warmer than other rooms. And I had an AC guy come in and he said, Well, there's not enough for Turner. There's no way that that room's ever going to cool.

00:35:05:16 - 00:35:17:01
George Siegal
So I had to put a split system air conditioner in my office just because somebody didn't do their job right? And we just keep rewarding these knuckleheads, and it drives me crazy. It's amazing. I haven't pulled out all my hair.

00:35:17:17 - 00:35:38:05
Mathew Brading
I thought I told these people that see them trying not to stay on that. But I told them, I said, look, you measure your room and go online and see what suggested size ceiling fan. As for that room and then when you find that show that to them and say, how am I supposed to put the right size ceiling fan in this room when you have this in the spot that it's at?

00:35:38:13 - 00:36:02:03
Mathew Brading
And so hopefully they got that that changed. But I like to you know, I try not to blow things out of proportion, but I don't think we need to take no for an answer because the builder loves to say no. They love to deflect. They love to say that something is not their responsibility. You know, I put up a video the other day about some poor drainage and a house in between houses.

00:36:02:18 - 00:36:25:10
Mathew Brading
Now, if you look in the video, there's a very obvious visual reference that the House next door is a good six inches higher than the house I was inspecting. I mean, we've got like this going on. We don't have a retaining wall or type of additional drainage for any water. We just have this going on and then they have somewhat of a swale.

00:36:25:10 - 00:36:42:21
Mathew Brading
We have this going down here like this and then this going down like this. And so we've got a lot of extra water being collected right there in between the houses, which is a real common problem. I think it is where you are, too, but it's a real common problem in subdivisions here because they build houses so close together, they're not going to change that.

00:36:42:21 - 00:37:00:02
Mathew Brading
Okay. But they build houses really close together and it doesn't allow them to give the proper drainage. That's needed, you know, six inches, over ten feet. They don't even have ten feet to work with. And so they put in these swales to try to get water to go around the house and out to the street or wherever the drainage is.

00:37:00:18 - 00:37:21:06
Mathew Brading
But it's not like they have any real tools and measurement that they do. They just kind of eyeball it. Yeah, that looks about right. And they, and they don't get it right. And oftentimes that grading gets even if they did attempt to get it right, the grading gets hammered by weather or equipment before they even throw down the sod. And the people that kind of sub they don't care is put the grass down.

00:37:21:18 - 00:37:44:02
Mathew Brading
And so you end up with these areas that retain water. This does the one in the video doesn't really stress me out like in terms of like structural problems because of course holding moisture is going to possibly cause some differential sediment and stuff, especially on our soil. But it's far enough away. That doesn't really bother me, but it's going to be annoying.

00:37:44:02 - 00:38:02:11
Mathew Brading
It's really hard to mow. There's standing water. When I was there I was they my videos. I usually record them and I post them like one two months after the transaction is complete. And so sometimes people turn around and ask me a question about it and I don't know the answer, but in the video I stated that it rained the previous day.

00:38:03:16 - 00:38:26:21
Mathew Brading
I get that the builders say that water, you know, it can stay there for up to 48 hours, but I don't like that it should go away. There's no reason why it should be standing there when it's not standing anywhere else. Why do we have ponding water this one spot whenever it's nowhere else? That means there's a problem with this one spot.

00:38:27:04 - 00:38:47:01
Mathew Brading
And, so anyway, I had somebody that clearly a builder and, you know, I get Internet trolls constantly that just say ridiculous things to me. But clearly, this guy here is a builder, works for a builder, but he just had all of the same deflection stuff. He said, Well, you said it rained but how soon did it rain?

00:38:47:05 - 00:39:10:21
Mathew Brading
He didn't say anything about the sprinklers. I can see both houses have a sprinkler system. How often are they running their sprinklers? And it's like, man, you sound exactly like builders. Whenever these buyers have these issues, I do one our 11-month warranty inspections on these homes. And I run into these people that have had this problem for a year and they tell me the stories.

00:39:10:21 - 00:39:29:20
Mathew Brading
They're like, and trust me because I've lived it. I've experienced this exact same thing with two different builders on two new construction houses that I purchased. So I know that way. But also these people tell me that, you know, we told our builder about this a bunch. We've sent them pictures. They told us that it was our sprinkler system.

00:39:29:20 - 00:39:49:08
Mathew Brading
So we stopped running it so much they told us it was our neighbor's sprinkler system. So we got together, neither one of us, to run our sprinkler systems in a month, you know, and they like these are the type of stories that I hear and it's like, but we're still having problems. And then you know, we're trying to get them to do something about it and getting pushback from these builders.

00:39:49:08 - 00:40:11:24
Mathew Brading
They just want to and I say builders, I don't think it's I think what it is, is it's just a money thing. Right? The person at the top has to spend as little as you can so that just keeps trickling down. And so when it gets all the way down for the person that's actually in charge of the build of your house is nowhere close to anything high up.

00:40:12:12 - 00:40:22:05
Mathew Brading
They're just taking orders. And so, you know, their job literally is to try to talk their way out of spending more money as well.

00:40:23:10 - 00:40:41:06
George Siegal
Yeah. And I guess our only hope is that they have some pride in what they're doing, but ultimately we end up rewarding builders for doing things that are pretty mediocre. Like that fan story you told. No matter what fan they put out, there's not going to be flush center in the middle of the room, which would drive me up the wall.

00:40:41:14 - 00:41:00:13
George Siegal
So my question to you is, when you put out stuff like you do, you're going to get people that tell you you're whining, you're complaining. There are worse things in life. I say to them, you're just you, you are a troll. Because the reality is that's my house. I paid good money for it. Why can I not demand perfection?

00:41:00:13 - 00:41:03:09
George Siegal
Why is that wrong? To expect it to be done right?

00:41:04:16 - 00:41:25:19
Mathew Brading
Yeah, and it's not. And that's the thing. Like I think you have to think, especially because I think mostly what we're talking about here is construction, right? New construction, really. I think while I inspect all kinds of homes from old, you know, very old all the way up to brand new ones, you know, it's new construction stuff.

00:41:25:20 - 00:41:52:13
Mathew Brading
We're paying a lot of money for this. And there is an expectation for it to be, you know, as close to perfect as possible. And yeah, I mean, I just it does blow my mind. What they seemingly are trying to get away with because people are spending so much money to buy these homes and they're not exactly getting what they're paying for a lot.

00:41:53:04 - 00:42:12:00
George Siegal
No, they're not. Now, I was just traveling with my family in Italy on vacation, and we'd go into these old churches and old buildings with these perfect rounded arches that they could not in any way have had the same kind of equipment that we have available today. When I walk around my neighborhood and when I look in houses that I've lived in, every arch is a little crooked.

00:42:12:00 - 00:42:26:22
George Siegal
They're a little lopsided. Nobody seems to know how to do that. Do you see stuff like that when you're on a house? Because that drives me crazy. If an arch is crooked or the depth of it is wrong as you walk through it, when you're walking through Italy with people that built this thing 500 years ago and it's perfect.

00:42:28:14 - 00:43:05:09
Mathew Brading
Yeah, I mean, it's funny. Back to my buddy Chris Murphy. He said something to me a long time ago. We were talking about new construction. We were talking about warranties. You know, and the common new construction warranty is, you know, a year bumper to bumper sort of two years on HVAC. And I see two years electrical, I think. And that and then but really it's ten years under structure structural warranties for ten years and it sounds good that they use it as a selling point right it's like a guarantee your foundation for ten years that really sounds good right as well.

00:43:05:13 - 00:43:29:23
Mathew Brading
I think it meant ten years. I mean, yeah, that should be fine. Right. But it's like when you really look at that, it's like we have structures that have been built and constructed for ages that are still just fine. And the builders like, we got you for ten, ten years and it's like ten years. I mean, you got a 30-year mortgage probably, you know what I mean?

00:43:29:23 - 00:43:38:01
Mathew Brading
Like in there, any guarantee your foundation will make it through that you can pay the place off? They don't have ten years. They're out. Yeah.

00:43:38:06 - 00:43:53:04
George Siegal
I mean, I always say to, you know, when you hear a builder say built to code, I've talked to architects that say a builder should be building for what's coming up in the future. That building to code is the minimum. So if that's what they're touting, you're buying the minimum.

00:43:53:14 - 00:44:14:09
Mathew Brading
Yes, it is a friend. Okay. Kind of a friend of mine said something about it was get a new construction house built is in another part of the country I couldn't inspected or anything but he was like yeah yeah code is to keep your house from falling apart or burning down. Like I'm looking for a little bit better than that, you know?

00:44:14:14 - 00:44:48:17
Mathew Brading
But yeah, it's the someone else explained it as the least you can legally do, you know, to, to build a house and it's it's true. I mean, it's the thing is people get wrapped up in code codes there for a reason. Okay. I'm not a code inspector. I do know code. I had a lot of ton of code be able to pass national homes because business was so difficult and yeah, but my code, my, my inspections are actually not code-based in code.

00:44:49:02 - 00:45:23:16
Mathew Brading
I use some code in my inspections and, but I don't quote it a lot, I use code to help me determine whether things are deficient or right. But the thing is, is that code is like a general rule when you don't have any other rules, but manufacturers installation instructions go before code every single time. So it doesn't matter if the if your dryer, you know, a dryer duct is supposed to be made out of, you know, smooth metal duct all the way from the connection point, all the way to the exterior of the house.

00:45:24:20 - 00:45:48:06
Mathew Brading
I if the dryer manufacturer says we want need to use, you know, paper code and ceramic duct and we want it to make a pattern and swing right back in and terminate into a bathroom. Like that's what is ridiculous. But I mean, like, if that's what the manufacturer's instructions say and a code doesn't matter, that's what you that's what you follow.

00:45:48:06 - 00:46:10:11
Mathew Brading
And it's that's never the case, by the way. It's always more strict. That's the deal. That's the thing. It's always a more strict rule. And so you go by what the manufacturers installation is because that is the most important thing, the people that know their product and how it works and how it's supposed to function code is just a general, a general rule for when that stuff doesn't exist.

00:46:11:05 - 00:46:27:15
George Siegal
You know, I like the thing. There was a quote in my documentary film, The Last House Standing. We used from Hammurabi's code from the old days that if a builder built a house that resulted in the death of the person living in it, the builder was put to death. And the bottom line of that is, is skin in the game?

00:46:28:03 - 00:46:34:01
George Siegal
Yeah. What is the skin in the game that the builders have now? I'm not suggesting anybody be put to death by any means.

00:46:34:01 - 00:46:34:24
Mathew Brading
But somebody should. Sure.

00:46:35:19 - 00:46:54:04
George Siegal
Somebody should sure rough them up a little bit in the in court or something, you know, I just don't think they should they should get away with what they get away with. And people who get mad at me or get mad at you for complaining about it. I think we're trying to look out for people. I don't want people to experience all the baloney that I've experienced.

00:46:54:04 - 00:47:26:07
Mathew Brading
Oh, definitely. I mean, look, I'm not even necessarily sure this is why I got into a home inspection. Like, I'm not sure if this is the reason why it was I was attracted to it when I found out about it. But what I get out of it now is the gratification of helping people. It's my favorite part of the job and it actually bites me in the ass all the time because I end up spending way too much time with people and trying to explain and make sure that they understand it.

00:47:26:23 - 00:47:47:01
Mathew Brading
It makes me late to inspection sometimes because like I usually do two a day and the person I usually show at the end of the first one, and maybe I tell them something that's going on with the house and they look at me with a real glazed over look, well, I got to go in because, you know, people will focus, especially, you know, people buying houses don't know much about a house.

00:47:47:22 - 00:48:09:15
Mathew Brading
They'll focus in on something that doesn't really matter. And then just like glaze over when I start talking about things that actually really do matter. And, and so, you know, I spend some time trying to make sure that people do understand this. I think one of the things that's made my company so successful is my customer service and and that's something I brought with me from a previous employment.

00:48:09:15 - 00:48:38:06
Mathew Brading
But the thing is, I love helping people, I really do. And it blows me out whenever like this past week I had a couple of inspections that I had to postpone and one of them had to postpone two times. Right. A rose, a new construction house. And I just couldn't get it ready. This bummed me out because obviously if I have to postpone an inspection, especially when it's the last minute like it was, I usually don't have a chance to fill it.

00:48:38:06 - 00:48:56:02
Mathew Brading
So I'm just out of money, period, you know? And, so that' stinks, they I usually just try to take it with a grain of salt because I work a lot. And so when I get a little bit of time off, I just roll with it, you know? And then it happened again and then that hurt. But you know what really bummed me out more than the loss of money.

00:48:57:12 - 00:49:17:16
Mathew Brading
It's it's the I now, you know, that's a postpone, right. So postponed two times. So that was three spots that I had to dedicate to this one house. So that's at least two people that I'm not going to get to help now, two people that need a home inspector that now they're going to have to get somebody else.

00:49:17:16 - 00:49:36:13
Mathew Brading
And I'm not worried about business to my competition. I'm worried about what my competition is going to how their how well they're going to help these people, what they're bringing to the table, how well they're going to perform the inspection. Because let me tell you, I've seen some of these other inspections that people are sending, and then I've got to work for myself.

00:49:36:18 - 00:50:02:17
Mathew Brading
I set the bar for myself and I mean, I look now at some of the inspection reports that are coming out. I see them every once in a while and I'm just like, I can't believe I'm I it bothers me that people are not inspecting to the level that I am. I'm not trying to say that I'm the best, but I just I just I want people to do their very best.

00:50:02:17 - 00:50:18:00
Mathew Brading
And I want people to trust that their home inspector will do the very best. And it bothers me, I want to see people that have hired somebody that's not giving it their all. I am. And I just want to be able to help as many people as possible. So bums me out whenever I can. Yeah. Helping people.

00:50:18:04 - 00:50:36:01
Mathew Brading
I don't think that's a question you asked, but that is my favorite part of the job is helping people and helping them know more about their house, learn about their house, learn why they may or may want to, you know, either consider getting in the house or getting another house or something like that.

00:50:36:10 - 00:50:54:21
George Siegal
I hope you never get away from the way you're doing it because you bring something to your job that shows in your videos and it shows in how you're talking right now that you obviously care. And I think caring is something that's missing in so many professions now where people do the job, they do the minimum.

00:50:55:05 - 00:51:11:03
George Siegal
And as the home buyers, we are the ones that pay the price for it. If something's a problem when you buy the house, it's probably going to be a problem when you go to sell it to somebody else. So the fact that somebody didn't care early on in the process just trickles down and then we're the ones that get hammered by it.

00:51:11:15 - 00:51:28:23
George Siegal
And I'm just tired of seeing it happen. And I want people to wake up and things to look for because as great as you are, somebody is not going to get you for their inspection. At least I'll know if the guy went through the motions. They'll know if they checked everything because there be certain things you should look for in every house.

00:51:29:04 - 00:51:54:02
George Siegal
So as we put a button on this and wrap it up, what would you say to somebody? I'm a home buyer. I'm bringing whether it's newer or an existing stock house. What are the key things that I should be thinking about when I'm going through that house?

00:51:54:14 - 00:52:11:13
George Siegal


00:52:11:24 - 00:52:25:10
Mathew Brading
Yeah, I think, number one, I want to say and I tell this to people a lot, get a home. Just get a home inspector for four one like that. That is one thing that you just really should do. You're you're putting a lot of money into purchasing this property. A home inspection, a few hundred dollars. Not that bad.

00:52:25:19 - 00:52:46:06
Mathew Brading
Get a home inspector. I'm not saying hire me people in my area. I can help you. Great. But you get a home inspector. Even the ones that I'm talking about that I wish would do a better job. They at least are bringing some value on the table. I'm telling you you're probably still worth what you're paying.

00:52:46:06 - 00:52:47:10
Mathew Brading
New construction. Obviously.

00:52:48:03 - 00:53:05:19
George Siegal
It could be anything just if you're walking into that house and new construction obviously is a problem. But like I look for things like is the floor squared off? Did they narrow down tiles when they were getting to the end on the backsplash on the floor? Are the shelves crooked? You know, I look for things because to me, it points out there was no attention to what was going on here.

00:53:05:22 - 00:53:17:22
George Siegal
I don't know anything about electrical. I don't know anything about gas and stuff like that. So I'm looking for cosmetic obvious things that to me show good craftsmanship or bad craftsmanship. Is that is that a misguided thing to do?

00:53:18:10 - 00:53:38:07
Mathew Brading
Yeah. No, I think I think it's a great thing to do. It's just I think it worries me, like as I walk into a home sometimes and they might have like an abode wall, often they do look down the hallway and you can tell that they just, you know, the wall is kind of wavy. What are you going to do if you find them like that?

00:53:38:13 - 00:53:57:03
Mathew Brading
You know, what are you going to do? You know, if I say, hey, look for that kind of stuff. What's that? What's that going to what's that going to do you look for are you going to walk away from the house? Because it's probably not a big deal, but cosmetically it's kind of a big deal. I think it all goes back to I think I think you're better off.

00:53:57:09 - 00:54:24:12
Mathew Brading
I think the better way to answer this question is, you know, a clean job site all the way through is very important. And that can let you know that you have somebody that actually did care about managing and not just in the beginning. There's no trash in your footings, no trash in your foundation, they clean up on a daily or weekly basis or not food, trash in around whatever.

00:54:24:15 - 00:54:42:09
Mathew Brading
Open your attics. Need to get as much beer cans. Sit around as mat. I found a bunch of those, but always like, you know, clean, clean. They clean a house and have people in there cleaning things up and cleaning up after themselves during the build process all the way to the end. I mean, I think that says a lot.

00:54:42:09 - 00:55:16:06
Mathew Brading
Also, I think the order of things I think this is more important to me than answering the question is like stuff that you can see because I want you to hire a home inspector to find the stuff you can't see. And if you can see it, then you can put some blue tape on it and fix it. But the order of things, communication and the order of things, you know, if the builder says we are getting cabinetry in on X date and it's not there and that or everything, you know, because it seems like that's the whole deal.

00:55:16:06 - 00:55:51:08
Mathew Brading
Like they never can be on time with anything, the disorganization. And it's like communication. Like if they can communicate to you, you know, proper dates instead of just telling you a date that you want to hear. I think these are all signs to me that I think we should consider. If you're getting talked in a circle or if you can actually communicate with your with these people to try to know if they're on point, they're going to stay on point.

00:55:51:08 - 00:56:06:19
Mathew Brading
It's hard, man. I mean, look, the fact of the matter is, this is an exciting process. Buying a new construction house and watching it be built is exciting, but it is frustrating as all get out and you really get to see how the sausage is made. And it's not oftentimes very pretty.

00:56:07:11 - 00:56:24:09
George Siegal
Exactly. But I mean, people have to not be afraid to ask questions. And if you don't have the access where they seem willing to answer the questions, I think it's a very frustrating process. Like I said, I've never had a good experience, so I don't know what that's like. But most of the people I know, they're not hanging out with their builder.

00:56:24:17 - 00:56:32:10
George Siegal
They don't I don't know most people that come away going, Oh, it's the greatest guy ever or gal. I love them and they're perfect.

00:56:32:20 - 00:56:56:13
Mathew Brading
That's just the whole industry. I mean, like, it's funny because when people get pools made, everyone I know that ever has a pool, maybe they hate the pool guy. I mean, every time I walk into his house, my beautiful pool, you know, you know, you recommend your pool? No, no, I never recommend it. That's pretty much everything you get on a patio cover built in your backyard by the time you're in at the end of that thing.

00:56:56:13 - 00:57:16:21
Mathew Brading
Like everyone hates their contractor at the end of every single job. It's the same way for building an entire house too. But but yeah, it's just the industry. And I think it's just what happens is especially with like these single jobs, the pools and stuff like that, when things start narrowing down, you get a lot of attention in the beginning and then things start narrowing down.

00:57:16:21 - 00:57:35:20
Mathew Brading
They have other jobs and they have to start focusing on the next job. And so you start to fill slide in before your project is complete or something like that. And people always that's at the end is when all the stuff starts showing up, you know, you start seeing all the stuff that's wrong towards the end and they're tired of you.

00:57:35:20 - 00:57:42:18
Mathew Brading
You're tired of them, you're tired of them being in your backyard and have everything all tore up and you're ready for it to be over. And it's just it's frustrating.

00:57:43:04 - 00:57:57:08
George Siegal
Yeah, I've told this story before. We had a pool guy that put in barstools and he put them too close to the wall and we caught that. And he goes, Oh, when you're wet in the pool, you'll fit right in there. And we just laughed. I mean, really, we have to get wet and get in the pool.

00:57:57:08 - 00:58:12:12
George Siegal
We can squeeze in like a tight pair of pants. So they had to rip them out and put them in again. But you really I think the takeaway and you probably I know you have to agree with this is you have to watch everything. You really have to be on your game and then get a great inspector to make sure that you were.

00:58:13:02 - 00:58:45:12
Mathew Brading
Yeah. And I mean, you know, it's functions can happen here I to prepare for inspections before that they poured concrete I do pre-drywall inspections before they put in insulation in drywall and I do final inspections then a month warranty inspection. But that's the three prior to purchase. I mean, if you can get them all three, I really suggest they're never I think it's also like we need it needs to be managing expectations is huge it needs to be mentioned that we should although imperfect, is the goal that needs to be everybody's goal.

00:58:46:15 - 00:59:13:02
Mathew Brading
But we shouldn't expect everything to be 100% perfect. Every inspection and everything we call out and everything is just a step to try to get it closer to perfect, you know, and I wouldn't suggest people ask all the time, like, how often should I get inspections? I do not suggest getting an inspection just for anyone's listening in between those three stages prior to the pull of one concrete forward grade.

00:59:13:08 - 00:59:29:23
Mathew Brading
But if you get one in between then and when that before they put up drywall, you just your inspectors are going to be looking at things that they haven't finished yet. You actually do have to give them time to get to a certain point where everything can be looked at and say, okay, you know, this is a change and this needs to change.

00:59:29:23 - 00:59:43:21
Mathew Brading
You need to fix this pair this before moving on. But if you don't want someone if you get an inspector, they're too early. They're going to go in there. They're going to give you a 100-page report of a whole bunch of things that just haven't been done yet. And that's of zero value to you. None.

00:59:44:19 - 00:59:58:24
George Siegal
Yeah. No, that's great advice because, you know, it's like if I show a client a video too early in the process, I don't need them seeing the obvious mistakes that I'm going to fix. But yeah, you know, you just want to know that there's some pride involved and that they actually care. And, and that's what I love about your video.

00:59:58:24 - 01:00:10:11
George Siegal
So Matt, I'm going to put all your links to where people can follow you. I know you just started on Tik Tok and that's a tough medium to grow in. I mean, you're killing it on Instagram Tik Tok stuff.

01:00:11:08 - 01:00:28:19
Mathew Brading
You know, I don't know. I mean, yeah, it actually has been all about two weeks, but I have found it a little bit harder to gain some traction in there or harder than I thought it was going to be, because I thought I could use my momentum from Instagram. That hasn't really shown itself to work as well.

01:00:29:00 - 01:00:45:06
Mathew Brading
I'm not sure I'm giving it a whole lot of effort, to be quite honest with you. But I think like there's several folks that did blow up on Instagram or on Tik Tok about time I was blowing up on Instagram, you know. And so everyone's kind of got their own world. I'm just kind of trying to get my toes in and see what's going on out there.

01:00:45:06 - 01:01:07:23
Mathew Brading
But yeah, I am. I'm doing Tik Tok, but I'm putting everything out there on all platforms and I'm trying to do it. I'm trying to do it a little bit different and try to cater material for each platform, at least some of the time. I'm trying to do things just a little bit different on each one because each one kind of calls for different types of contact really.

01:01:07:23 - 01:01:20:09
George Siegal
Well, I'm not going to give you advice on what to do on Tik Tok because I don't think you want to make those kinds of videos, but you're killing it on Instagram and I love your videos. I'm going to I'm a big fan and I appreciate you making time for me today. Thank you so.

01:01:20:09 - 01:01:34:02
Mathew Brading
Much. Know I'm sorry it's taken me so long. I just mean when I'm not doing inspections, I'm doing stuff with the family or building stuff in my garage and stuff. And so, yeah, it is tough to find a time to thank for being patient. I did. I do love doing this stuff and I wanted to do it.

01:01:34:14 - 01:01:35:13
George Siegal
All right. Thanks, Matt.

01:01:36:04 - 01:01:37:24
Mathew Brading
Hey, can I mention one thing real quick.

01:01:38:01 - 01:01:39:13
George Siegal
Oh, absolutely.

01:01:39:13 - 01:02:08:09
Mathew Brading
I actually have I'm growing my team. I right now, I've been a single-man operation since 2017 when I started my company. And as of this coming Wednesday, the day after tomorrow, I have another inspector that is joining my team. I'm excited about this. This is just a step in the direction that I really need to take. I try my best to put out videos that help inspectors.

01:02:08:09 - 01:02:29:16
Mathew Brading
I get a lot of inspectors that ask me for help. I also have a subscription platform on Instagram that is a little bit more catered toward training inspectors, and I try to lend my knowledge wherever I can because I want better inspectors out there. But the one thing I haven't done yet is bring someone in on my team and train them to do the job the way that I do it.

01:02:29:24 - 01:02:51:09
Mathew Brading
And I'm actually taking that step and somebody is starting Wednesday to be my first inspector. And so I'm super excited about that. So here pretty soon, within the next couple of months, I mean, he's going to be kind of observing for a little while and kind of learning. But in next couple of months, I'm probably going to have another inspector out there and so.

01:02:51:10 - 01:02:59:12
George Siegal
Awesome that that's great to hear if you can clone yourself because you know, but I hope you I hope you knock that one out of the park, too. Thanks, Matt.

01:03:00:01 - 01:03:02:03
Mathew Brading
All right. Thank you. Great talking to you, George.

01:03:02:19 - 01:03:24:16
George Siegal
Thank you so much for joining me on This week's Tell Us How to Make It Better podcast all the links to follow Matthew are in the show notes and there's also a link to a contact form that goes directly to me. If you have problems with your house, good or bad, I'd love to hear from you. Maybe have you as a guest on an upcoming episode, and if you enjoyed what you were listening to today, please become a subscriber so you don't miss an episode.

01:03:24:24 - 01:03:30:10
George Siegal
A new one comes out every Tuesday. Thank you so much for listening. See you next time.